About the MSI
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IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Europe & Eurasia MSI in 2001.
MSI Overview [9] | Africa [10] | Asia [11] | Europe & Eurasia [12] | Middle East & North Africa [13]
MSI Methodology [14]
Download the Complete Bosnia and Herzegovina MSI Chapter (PDF): 2013 [15] | 2012 [16] | 2011 [17] | 2010 [18] | 2009 [19] | 2008 [20] | 2006/7 [21] | 2005 [22] | 2004 [23] | 2003 [24] | 2002 [25] | 2001 [26]
MSI Bosnia and Herzegovina - 2013 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 2.03
At the end of 2011, almost 15 months after general elections, six political parties finally reached an agreement and appointed members of the Council of Ministries on the state level. The state budget was approved, both for the coming year and retroactively for 2011. In March 2012, officials reached an agreement on principles for resolving the issues of ownership and use of defense and state property, an important step toward the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) into NATO.
Despite these gains, the country’s complicated governance structure—it comprises two entities, Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter, the Federation), as well as the self-governing Brčko District, each with separate internal governance structures—continues to be troublesome. An intense struggle for power is underway among political parties at the local, entity, and state levels, at certain points disregarding legal procedures. The multi-ethnic Social Democratic Party removed the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action from the state Council of Ministers in October 2012. And, after months of controversies regarding procedural irregularities, a Social Democratic Party-led coalition reshuffled the Parliamentary Assembly, adding the Croatian Democratic Union of B&H and a smaller splinter party. The restructuring of the Federation government was still an unresolved issue by the end of 2012. Separately, RS President Milorad Dodik received the resignation of the entire RS government on February 27, 2013. Political disagreements had been building since the local elections of October 2012, which, while generally in line with democratic procedures, left some unresolved issues.
Politicians could not agree on solutions to implement a European Court of Human Rights ruling requiring changes to the B&H constitution on ethnic eligibility to stand for elected office, and as a result the country failed to meet an EU road-map deadline. Senior RS officials have continued to campaign against, and take action to diminish, the authority of state institutions over those of the RS and the Federation.
Suspected links between the media and political parties, as well as a recent rise in ethnic divisions in the media, seem to be feeding new political biases. Political pressure to introduce direct political appointments of Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) officials, more attempts to influence public broadcasters, and rhetoric aimed at abolishing the public broadcaster have been evident. The media industry also continues to be affected by the country’s dire economic conditions. As in previous years, particularly amid shrinking advertising spending, the market is not supporting an independent media. Outlets are pushed toward clientelism, and their credibility continues to be endangered.
The overall MSI score is almost the same as last year, failing to reverse the negative trends of recent years. OnlyObjective 5, Supporting Institutions, logged a notable improvement, while Objectives 2 and 4, Professional Standards and Business Management, respectively, scored notably lower. Professional standards remain a luxury for media outlets and their reporters, while business strategies are undermined by political and macroeconomic pressure notsupportive of a robust media sector.
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